"For Unto Us a Child Is Born"
By Brother Parrish Lee
December 1st,2013
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Givinghonorto God, Who is the Head of our life, He who is the giver of all goodandperfect gifts; He who knows no defeat.He who has never left us, never forsaken us. He who is our reason, ourhope, and ourglory. He who isour joy, our strength,our Rock, our sword, our shield, our helmet, our high tower. He who is our wholesalvation. Givinghonor to that God.
Giving honor to all of those whohave gone on before us: Ourfoundingpastor and his family, our bishop and pastor and his family, PastorWilson whopreached and taught and went on to head up the education wing, andBrotherKenneth and his family who mounted the pulpit and helped and taught andlearned, and their testimonies, and they established.
Giving honor to God for all of youwho are here, who come and present yourselves and say, “Lord, I come toYou…” Yeah, youcome to a building, but,“Lord, I come to You, because I want to receive, not from a person, butI wantto receive from You.” Amen.
Isaiah9:6Forunto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall becalledWonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, ThePrince of Peace.
If we could just bow our heads forjust a moment: Lord,we thank you forall the things that You have given us, yes, Lord, throughout our lives,and,yes, God, today. Wethank You for beingso wonderful and comforting, so loving, and for establishing Your Word,Yourtruth, Your presence in our lives.Forleading us and guiding us, God. Notlaying sin to our charge, but taking it away by the precious blood ofthe Lamb;We thank You, Lord. Wethank You for ourtime of worship, to come before you and sing praises and, no, Lord,we’re notin rivalry with anybody, for we sing from our hearts.It is all unto You a praise of thanksgiving,saying, “Lord, you alone are worthy.”Wethank You, and we pray all these things as we ask a blessing on thispart ofthe message: thatYou would instruct usand guide us that You would have it benefit our lives, for surely Yousaid inYour Word, that it would not return unto You void, but that it wouldaccomplish, that for which You sent it.We claim Your promises in this, in Jesus’ name, andeveryone said, amen.
It is altogether fitting, saints,that we would have the month of thanksgiving followed by Christmas. To be thankful, followedby the reason why weare so thankful for everything that we have.It is altogether fitting that we should open aservice like today withIsaiah chapter 9 verse number 6. ThisScripture, from the Book of Isaiah, was actually written about sevenhundredand fifty years before the birth of Christ.At the time that God gave Isaiah he prophet thisScripture,
No doubt, they’re looking to seethis promise come real soon. Theydidn’tunderstand. Theydidn’t understand thatthis King, this Son, He wasn’t going to be like any other one that hadevebeen. Yean, He wasgoing to be greaterthan David, and David, the bible says, was a king after God’s own heart. He was going to be greaterthan Solomon, andSolomon had the riches, and the respect of everybody, and, it says, hewaswiser than any other. Yeah,this King,he was going to be stronger than Samson.There was nobody that they knew of, that was likenedunto Samson. ThisKing was going to have a certain kind ofgovernment, and the riches that would be in His government, wouldn’tcorrode,wouldn’t lose value. ThisKing that wasgoing to come, this Son, this Child, this ruler that the government wasgoingto be on His shoulders, He was going to have a kingdom, but, inside ofthatkingdom was going to be things like love, and joy, and peace… It was going to beredemption; it was goingto be a way to find your way to God all the time.You wouldn’t have to run to a Temple, youwouldn’t have to go find a man—like you were talking about there,brother Malcolm—youwouldn’t have to go find a priest, and bring a certain offering, andlay it athis feet, and hope that was going to be enough for whatever it was thatyouwere asking for, whether it was for redemption, or whether it was forforgiveness,or whether it was for intercession, or make it right for me and myfamily, orme and the neighbors, or my sons or my daughters…This Son, this great King, this Ruler, He wasgoing to have a place where, in that house that He had, there weregoing to bemany mansions, and, if it were not so, He would have told us. They didn’t understand allthat. The keybehind all of that was that f Godpromised it, He was going to do it, because God is a God that knows howtodeliver on His promises.
Luke2:4-6AndJoseph also went up from Galilee, out of thecity of
Okay, hold on just a second—The settingis that
Luke2:7-20 Andshe brought forth her firstborn son, and wrappedhim in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there wasno roomfor them in the inn. Andthere were inthe same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch overtheir flockby night. And, lo,the angel of the Lordcame upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: andthey weresore afraid. Andthe angel said untothem, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy,which shallbe to all people. Forunto you is bornthis day in the city of
Shepherds, why this jubilee?Angels we have heard on high…Why?Why? Why?because, unto us, aChild is born, unto us, a Son is given…So, the shepherds were in the fields, and they weretending to theirsheep—it’s tending to be towards the evening time—the shepherds are inthefields and the first one was the angel of the Lord appeared unto them. The angel of the Lordappeared unto them andtold them of the glad tidings—something really special—something that’sneverhappened before—something that the Blessed of the Lord has come to them. He talks to theseshepherds and he tellsthem, and after he tells them, in verse 10, “Fear not, for behold, Ibring yougood tidings of great joy which shall be to all people, for unto you isborn aSavior, which is Christ the Lord.”Afterthat message, then you go to verse 13, and you’ve got, “And suddenlythere waswith the angel a multitude…” Thiswasmore than a one angel message. Amultitudecomes around praising God. Ittookangels to praise God for this specific thing that was happening. It’s amazing, saints; it’samazing. The angelsappeared; they could have appearedunto anybody. Whydidn’t they go to the
There’s a little something aboutshepherds, you know. Shepherdsarebasically a simple folk; it’s a simple profession.You don’t have to have a college degree, or amaster’s… You don’thave to besuper-studious, because sheep are pretty simple to flock. All you have to do: youlead them out intothe field, you corral them, and you protect them.That’s it.So, as the message come to these shepherds, theshepherds are a simplekind of people, that aren’t going to take a super-intelligent—you bringthem amessage and they say, “Well, I don’t know if that’s exactly right, youangel,you.” If they weresuper-spiritual, theymight say, “Well, that’s not how I understood it was going to happen,accordingto what I believe.” Ifthey were reallystrong, physical types, then they might say, “Well, maybe I should seeif theseguys can take me. Ifthey can, then I’llbelieve them; if not, maybe not.”No, theshepherds were a simple folk. Asimplefolk for keeping of the sheep, that would receive a message from theangels andgo look for that which God had given them.It says that when they found Him—go down to versenumber 17—it says, “Andwhen they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was toldthemconcerning this child.” Sothey toldeverybody who was going to hear. “Youknow what? there was a whole host of Heaven praising God for this Child. They said that this was asavior, born in thecity of
So, for seven hundred and fiftyyears, or, we could call it seven hundred and forty-nine, no Christmas,then,all of the sudden, here we are, at the very first moment. What do we have? What do we do? How do we treat this, thisSavior? I mean,right now, it’s just a babe inswaddling clothes.
I asked specifically for that song,“Little Drummer Boy.” Sooften, we canuse the message. WhenI was some yearsyounger, I visited my mom, and she was a day-care teacher—she lovedteachingkids. She wasgetting the kids, and theywere putting on this little play.It wasa Little Drummer Boy play. Shesaid,“Hey, Parish, why don’t you stay and watch this?”“Are you kidding me?I’m using my vacation to watch a practice? Ma!”She said, “Come on, hush up and just watch.” So, they’re on their cots,and the little kidthat was going to be the drummer boy, he had a tin drum, and he had ablankettied around his neck. Helooked like hejust woke up. I waslike, “Augggh. Okay,Ma, I’ll do it for you.” Youknow what? God has a way of making amove. So, the songwas playing—she wasplaying a cassette, or whatever—and the kids are like little lambs, andthey’redoing their thing, and the drummer boy looks like he’s still waking up. He’s trying to do hismove, and he’s got hislittle drum sticks. Thesong goes on,and then the message: Thelittle boyturns around, and the song goes, “…I have no gift to bring,pa-rum-pum-pum-pum,that’s fit to give a king…” and he little boy turned around and heopened hisarms with his little sticks, and he looked right at me.God revealed to me that that was me: I don’thave a gift to bring the great King of kings.What can I do when I come before Your presence,Lord, and I want tooffer up to you something? So,I had towalk out, because the tears were just coming and I realized that thisrelationshipthat I have with God—He has superseded everything yet He still receivesus. Yes, that babethat was in swaddling clothesand that whole thing, yes, He received us, everyone of us. He receivedme; Hereceives all of us. Ifyou were lookingfor the big ritzy thing that to come along, you know, the king that wasgoingto be born wearing gold clothes and a big helmet, and be the prettiestthingaround, then, you know, you were going to miss this blessing. God wasn’t trying outshineanybody, becauseGod don’t have to. Hecan be the lowest,He can condescend to the lowest estate and lead captivity captive(Psalms68:18).
So, here we are twenty-seven hundredand sixty years later—the two thousand years form Christ until now andtheseven hundred and fifty years from Isaiah to Christ, and here we are. Unto us, still, that Childis born,, and untous, still, that Son is given, and unto us, if we let Him, thegovernment is onHis shoulders.
I have to mention something realquick--It used to be at Christmas time, it was so great, you could dothingsfor other people that you wouldn’t do any other time of year. Maybe send somebody a cardthat you don’teven talk to the rest of the year.Itused to be that way; it ain’t so much any more.It used to be that people would hold doors forpeople when they went tothe shopping centers and malls and stuff.Now you’ve got Black Friday, so you’ve got to get intune withthat. You’ve gotthe Christmas shows,and you’ve got to get in tune with that.You know, speaking of Christmas shows, that show,“The Little DrummerBoy,” it was a tradition—ever since my mom did that play thing—it was atraditionthat I would go to Baltimore for Christmas and, “Hey, Ma, when’s thatcomingon?” so that we could watch together. Someyears ago, I said, “Hey, Ma, when’s that coming on?” so that we couldwatchtogether. She said,“Oh, they took that oneoff.” “Say what?” “Yeah, they took that oneoff of TV.” “Wellwhy would they do that?” “Oh,because people complained about it.”It was animation, it was a cartoon—no, thisain’t the message—but it was an animated cartoon about a child beingable to receivea blessing from Jesus. Thatthey takeoff. Maybe Rudolph,and Santa Claus, andFrosty, but let’s make sure that society doesn’t want this message ofthe greatestsavior being taught to our young, because then they have less need forBlackFriday. And theyhave less need for allthat society offers. thanto hear littlestory about how even a child can come to the Lord Jesus and receivesomethingprecious for him.
Not just that—I’mgoing to do about that much moremeddling, and then I’m back—I read on Yahoo recently how on the showcalled theVoice—that’s the singing show, right?Singing competition show. Idon’twatch the show, so I just had to read the article—but they said thatthey allgot together, and they were singing a song called, “Will the Circle BeUnbroken?”Anybody knowthat song? “Willthe Circle Be Unbroken?” but they had totake one word out. Anybodywant to guesswhat word that they took out? “…Willthecircle be unbroken? Byand by—Oh—By andby. There’s abetter home awaiting, inthe sky—Oh—in the sky…” Ifyou take“Lord” out of that song, what home are we talking about? Who's going to be there? How do I get there if youtake the Lordout? It’s like whathappened on anothershow, American Idol, they sang the song “Jesus, Lover of my Soul,” but they took Jesus out. Yeah, they did. They took it out of thesong. Amazing,amazing, and, it was super-popular.It was the number one how for a while. They took that out. Lastly—still talking aboutunto us a Child isborn, unto us a Son is given—but not everyone is looking for that star.When that starwas there, yes, the Wise Mencame, but everybody could see it.Therewas one who said, “Where is it at?Whendid it appear? Letme know,”because he wasn’tlooking for Him, hewanted to do some damage. Noteverybodyis looking for Him. So,the lastmeddling that I have is abut another article I read about the newestmega-churches that are springing up:They are, believe it or not, the atheist megachurches. Yeah, thearticle goes, they would say, “Iwould go to church, and I would love the experience, but there was onlyonething that I didn’t care for. The songs, they were enlivening, and thewaypeople corresponded together, and that whole atmosphere, and you couldbe abetter person, and benefit, but, the only thing I didn’t care for wasthatwhole God/Lord thing. So,we wanted tohave our own place where we could come, but we don’t want God in there. We’ll have our songs…” Songs?I thought songs were part of worship.The question is, if you’re going to have someworship, the question is, whoare you worshipping? That’sit for mymeddling.
So, here we are in 2013. Yes, it’sstill here. This,unto us a Child isborn and, saints, this is just so—for me, who was a Muslim, some yearsago,this Child was born, and I didn’t even know it until 1983, whensomebody sharedwith me, “You know what? Jesus is true.He’s not just another prophet.Heis truly the Lord of Glory, and, He can save you from your sins. Yes, yes.Jesus, He can do that.Thisold-timey Scripture? Somebodymight say, “Thos old-timey Scripturestill has power?” Absolutely. If you were to go aroundthe room, somebodywould say, “To me, He is wonderful,” and somebody might say, “I neededa littlecounseling, so, to me, He’s a counselor.”Somebody else might say, ”I needed a miracle, so, tome, He is themighty God.” Somepeople might say, “Younow, I didn’t have too greatrelationship with my dad, (Maybe he died, maybe heleft, whatever thesituation was, I needed an everlasting Father to teach me and guide meand loveme like only a father can do.” Somebodyelse, they could easily say, “I need peace in my life.I’m just going to tell you straight, I neededpeace in my life, but, to me, He is the Prince of peace.” The truth of that wholescenario is, itdoesn't stop there. Somebodymight say,“I needed deliverance from drugs, and, to me, He wasdeliverer.”You know what? I needed to pay some bills—I reallydid—and, to me, Hewas some paychecks and a way to keep my house.The fact of the matter is, He never stops beingeverything to all ofus. This is thatgreat God.
So the message is the same as spokenby the angels to the shepherds- but not only to shepherds but to all ofus. The angels, asthey were singing,
Luke2:10-14 Andthe angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold,I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born thisday in the city of
Inclosing, What other fitting song goes so well, than the song that theychose tothe word Lord out of?
Sermonnotes by Pete Shepherd
